todays fighters are much fitter than the older fighters , training is better food is easier to get . if you take an old Ali fight for most of them he is exhausted for the last couple of rounds fighting on heart compare that to say ward or mayweather who look like they could go another 5/6 rds if they had to .
@william ...so every sportsman at every other event have got fitter faster and stronger except boxers , why do you think usain bolt is quicker than carl lewis or micheal phelps faster than mark spitz it's because sports men are now trained much better than before the coaches understand how to train and more important the benefits of nutrition and supplements .
as for fighting 15 rounds you are right but most fights were at a slower pace than now .
Great question Sean G and the guys gave some good answers. Let me put it another way the old school fighters trained to fight 15 rounds let me say it again they trained to FIGHT everything they did had something to do with making someone miss hitting them or taking a punch or landing a punch. Fighters today do a lot of exercises that have nothing to do with fighting . Old school fighters would chop wood with a ax new school fighters will hit a tire with a sledge hammer not the same thing. When you are chopping wood you have the resistance of pulling the ax out of the wood rather than bouncing the sledged hammer off of the tire.This is just one thing that fighters do today that has nothing to do with fighting another is how many rounds they spar and how long they rest in between each round. Fighters today will spar for 3 minutes then take a 30 second break . Now this may look like they are working harder by not taking the full minute break but in a real fight you get a one minute break between rounds. You need to practice like you are going to fight. To the person who said Ali was tired late in the fight lol .You are right and every fighter should be dead tired at the end of a fight .If you are trying to win. Ali was 215 lbs at his best try dancing and moving for 15 rounds while getting hit by George Foreman and let me know how that works for you.There are so many things guys do today that have nothing to do with fighting . Sean G here is the biggest thing that I see that is wrong with fighters today . They tell their trainers how to train them and tell the trainers what they don't want to do. So what is the trainer to do . I will never train a person that wont listen I have not put this
Old boxers trained to fight longer, so in that sense they were better conditioned.
Until recently all championship fights were 15 rounds and some other fights were 12 rounds with all main events being 10 rounds.
Fighters would go to a camp to train for fights, they would not have contact with their family or friends during the camp, it was all work, not just a couple of hours some days of the week.
Haha on the guy on ali. 1. The old time boxers went 15 rounds. 2 I think the promoters are smarter on when and where they hold the fights.they say at tge thrilla in manilla it was 100 degrees inside the ring.that being said I think the elite athletes of today are better conditions. High altitude training and they get paid enough to do year around. Guys like sonny liston did bouncer/muscle work on the side to supplement his income.
Doc, respectfully Ali looked tired at the end of a FIFTEEN round bout, not a Twelve. And we should not compare the competition of a Ali versus a Mayweather. It was a HORRENDOUS night doing fifteen rounds with Joe Frazier, versus tap tap scooting Guerrero.
Boxers in old school had to prep for fifteen rounds, they had to have top conditioning because smoking was not restricted in boxing venues (yep thats right cigarettes were thick in the arena) and the competition was much stiffer.
Now you can barely get a David Haye to get thru round 7 without his arms wiltering down to his waist.
For all the advances we have made in exercise science, sometimes it just pays to work longer than harder.
No. Despite the advances in training techniques and methods, today's boxers are less disciplined in terms of diet, activities and habits. Old school fighters slept early, ran early and avoided vices once training camp started.
No, because modern boxer has a lot of vices...And their conditioned its not natural, unlike old boxer...Old boxer are more dedicated with their craft, its all about hard work, natural conditioned, no modern vitamins...Like peds...LOL...That is why old boxer are great than todays boxer of that reason...
why or why not?
